BLOOD KIN by Steve Rasnic Tem

BLOOD KIN
BY
Steve Rasnic Tem

SUMMARY
Steve Rasnic Tem's new novel Blood Kin is set in the southern Appalachians of the U.S., alternating between the 1930s and the present day. It's a dark Southern Gothic vision of ghosts, witchcraft, secret powers, snake-handling, Kudzu, Melungeons, and the Great Depression.

Steve Rasnic Tem's new novel Blood Kin is set in the southern Appalachians of the U.S., alternating between the 1930s and the present day. It's a dark Southern Gothic vision of ghosts, witchcraft, secret powers, snake-handling, Kudzu, Melungeons, and the Great Depression.

Blood Kin is told from the dual points of view of Michael Gibson and of his grandmother Sadie. Michael has returned to the quiet Appalachian home of his forebears following a suicide attempt and now takes care of his grandmother— old and sickly but with an important story to tell about growing up poor and Melungeon (a mixed race group of mysterious origin) while bedeviled by a snake-handling uncle and empathic powers she but barely understands.

In a field not far from the Gibson family home lies an iron-bound crate within a small shack buried four feet deep under Kudzu vine. Michael somehow understands that hidden inside that crate is potentially his own death, his grandmother's death, and perhaps the deaths of everyone in the valley if he does not come to understand her story well enough.

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Solaris (February 25, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1781081972
• ISBN-13: 978-1781081976

REVIEW
SETTING:  1930 until modern day in th Appalacian Mountains.They say that you can't judge a book by its cover but this cover just eanted you to open up the book and start reading.  It had an eerie presence about it.  Take the cover away and yes, you have a wonderful book.  We have people living and hiding in the hollers and hills. in the Appalachian mountains.The characters are writtent o be so real, they live, they breathe, and they die.  That's about as realistic as you can get.  Two characters that will atract your attention and stay there will be they young girl Sadie and the strakly grim uncle, the Preacher..a villian that you wouldn't want to come across on a dark, stormy night.  So light the fireplace, grab your cover and cozy on up on the coach and get to reading.  Beware-  the hairs may stand on end.  The author wrote of a dark southern gothic setting with visions of witches, ghosts and things that go bump in the night.

I received a complimentary copy of BLOOD KIN from the author Steve Rasnic Tem and NightOwlReviews for my view of the book.  No other compensation took place.

I would give this book 4 BLOOD SPLATTERS.


AUTHOR

Biography

Steve Rasnic Tem was born in Lee County Virginia in the heart of Appalachia. He is the author of over 350 published short stories and is a past winner of the Bram Stoker, International Horror Guild, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Awards. His story collections include City Fishing, The Far Side of the Lake, and In Concert (with wife Melanie Tem). Forthcoming collections include Ugly Behavior (crime) and Celestial Inventories (contemporary fantasy). An audio collection, Invisible, is also available. His novels include Excavation, The Book of Days, Daughters, The Man In The Ceiling (with Melanie Tem), and the recent Deadfall Hotel. In this Edward Gorey-esque, Mervyn Peak-esque novel a widower takes the job of manager at a remote hotel where the guests are not quite like you and me, accompanied by his daughter and the ghost of his wife--"a literary exploration of the roots of horror in the collective unconscious."

You may visit the Tem home on the web at www.m-s-tem.com.

LINKS
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